"Deēsis Deconstructed: Imagining Intercession in the Medieval West"

Abstract:

This article examines artistic representations of intercession (third-party advocacy) in early medieval Europe c. 800-1100, focusing upon how a common Byzantine intercessory schema (the Deēsis) was adopted and adapted by Western artists. I argue that the Deēsis composition, while used in a variety of ways in medieval Europe, underwent a number of significant transformations which reflect a different sense of the intercessory process and the role of its participants. In particular, Western artists re-cast Deēsis in order to incorporate the petitioner within the representative frame, a change that gave greater importance to the propinquity of petitioner and intercessor than to the latter's exalted status vis-à-vis the (heavenly) ruler.

Last updated on 01/29/2014